Ice Cream
by Lost in the Shadow
Summary: Some people are destined to have a horrible life. Hopefully making new friends will soften the blow. OC-Centric.
1. Sweet

There are just some people destined to have a crappy life. Amnesia, fighting, kidnapping, torture, possession…

I used to say "Always be positive." But now, I'm finding it harder and harder to keep that mentality.

Chapter One: Sweet

It was cold. So very cold.

I wanted to know why all I had ever felt was this mind-numbing frosty darkness. And in it, nothing ever came to answer my questions.

But eventually, I began to feel warmth…

--

I opened my eyes slowly and blearily. I could see a ceiling above me. There was no need to say it was a welcome change from pitch black.

Beside me, a small cat-like robot stared blankly. I asked him the first question that came to mind. "Who are you?" I was curious as to who was kind enough to wake me from such a horrible nightmare.

"…" It 'said', and I pushed on it, though it was surprisingly heavy in my weakened state, so it made no difference. Looking closely, I saw a serial number or something engraved on the right arm.

"DAIN-MR25-8363-L46T-21817-VF8L… is that your name?" I asked, reading it to him. The machine's bright eyes sparkled, then dimmed a bit.

"Prossessing…" It commented, making me sigh. I wasn't sure what had made me expect it to be intelligent, but something in my gut was telling me he wasn't just a dumb machine.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "But… do you know who I am?" The robot's eyes sprang back to life, and it tilted its head in confusion.

"Authenticating… new master recognized as 'Sorbet'." It said, making it my turn to be confused.

Struggling to sit up, I looked at him. "Sorbet? My name is Sorbet?"

He gave a large metallic smile. "Sorbet! Sorbet!"

I laughed. He seemed funny. "Okay, so I'm Sorbet. I think I'll call you… Dain. How about that?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Registering… Dain! Got it!" He grabbed my arm. "Sorbet! Sorbet! Let's explore!" I followed him – it could be fun.

We left the bedroom, entering a larger area with a kitchen attached. Um… this was a family room, wasn't it? I wondered why my head was so clouded on what everything was called. It could be related to why I couldn't even remember who I was, but I couldn't be sure.

"Dain? What do you call it when someone can't remember anything?" The robot paused, thinking for a second.

"Am…ne…sia?" He said tentatively, not feeling sure. I guess his memory is as bad as mine. But the word felt familiar, like that was really it, so I smiled at him.

"Thanks! So, I have amnesia… Dain, do you know who I am?" The robot gave me another smile.

"Sorbet! Sorbet!"

I already knew that, thanks. "So… what are you doing here, Dain?" He scratched his head, then walked forward a little.

"Dain doesn't know! Explore! Explore!" I followed the robot out a door, and we ended up in the forest. Outside the house, trees sprang up everywhere, a few bright rays of sunshine shining through to brighten up the area.

Something about me said that it was morning, but I wasn't really sure how I could tell.

"Sorbet! Let's look around here! We might find something interesting!" Soon after 'exploring' with him, the robot became bored at not finding anything, however, and he began to try and play games with me like 'tag' and 'follow the leader'.

It became annoying trying to explain to him that I had no idea what they were, as every time I asked what the rules were, he said "Silly! Everyone knows how to play Tag!" …or whatever game it was he tried.

Eventually, I began to feel hungry, so we headed back to the house so I could get something to eat. I had no idea where the lone building was in the middle of the forest, but luckily Dain was able to lead me there.

My mind told me that the food would be in the room I recognized as a kitchen, and after looking in various odd places, I finally found some in a cold box.

Instantly recoiling from the unwelcome sensation, Dain got something out of it and closed the door to the box. I knew it from that moment – I hated the cold. It reminded me of that airless, pitch-black place I had been trapped in for so long.

Dain came to me with a bowl of warm soup – how that could have been made from such a freezing thing, I'll never know. Though, eating the soup made me feel a lot better… and I officially decided that Dain would be the one to get food from now on.

He eventually dragged me back out into the forest for more 'exploring' though, after not finding anything for awhile, it quickly dissolved into games which I almost always lost. But they were still fun anyway.

For over a week, life was nothing but this routine, until one day, during our 'exploring' we heard a loud, continuous stream of strange noises. "Sorbet! Explore! Come on, let's go!" Dain called, racing towards the source of the sound.

"Wait up! Daaiin!" I called after him, drawing out his name in order to catch his full attention. It worked, and he slowed down enough for me to catch up. "Okay, we'll go explore today. But we have to get home before nightfall, got it?"

"Night! Gave it!"

Sorbet shook her head. "It's 'got' it." Over the many days that I had known Dain I had noticed his habit of mistaking words for others, or messing up their pronunciation. It wasn't really annoying, but I corrected him anyway, hoping that he would eventually stop.

"Got! Got it! Explore!" I could already tell that it would be a long day… my senses told me this was nothing but trouble, but I couldn't afford not to know what it was.

After running for a few minutes, we burst out of the trees. Suddenly, I wasn't in a forest anymore.

"People! Look at all the people!" Dain shouted, and I froze up in shock. There was too many of them to even try and count. Something pulled at my insides, and I held my head.

"So this is what a city is like..." I whispered. There were huge buildings everywhere, and both humans and anthros hurried around busily. I could also see a lot of machines that carried them around. It was so different from my forest.

--Que Flashback--

"This is the city, Sorbet. There are more people living here than in any place you've been before. However, you must not enter it. With all those people, most of them will not be as nice as we are. I don't think you're old enough to be able to tell the difference between someone who's nice and one who's trying to lure you into a trap." The hawk said. Looking up at him, a younger me smiled.

"Don't worry. I'll become stronger."

--End Flashback--

"Umm... Dain? I think we should leave..." I began, but he was already gone.

"You! You! What's that?"

"It's an Extreme Gear. You didn't even know that?" The bird replied, frowning at him.

"No! Nope! Your face looks funny!" I cringed. The robot really had no manners. "What's that thing? On your mouth!" He wiped a wing across his beak and no crumbs or anything came off.

"It's yellow! What's that?" He was really stating to lose his patience with the kid, but if there was something on his beak, he should do something about it.

I walked up, trying to explain it to him. "Dain, that's a beak. Birds have them... I think." The robot's eyes lit up.

"Beak? Bird? Like Rash! You're like Rash!" The bird looked shocked, and he frowned at him.

"You know Rash?"

"Dain doesn't know! I think he's a bird like you!" The cat said excitedly. "I'm left, huh?"

Sighing, I corrected him. "It's 'right'."

"Right! Wrong! Left! I don't know!" I rubbed my temples in frustration. He was a bit too

childish, especially for a robot.

"What's going on?" I turned to see a black hedgehog approach us.

The bird smiled at her before explaining the situation. "These cats are acting stupid, but one of them seems to know about Rash the Hawk. He's that guy who escaped from prison in a really bizarre way."

I paused for a moment, confused… before I realized that Dain was wearing one of his outfits. The robot had a few perfectly fitting fur suits that he had apparently brought to the house in a suitcase from somewhere.

When worn, he became completely indistinguishable from a normal cat… unless you felt the metal underneath, of course. He really liked wearing them, as if he wanted to seem like your everyday anthro.

I had already gotten used to this behavior, so it was easy for me to forget he was wearing one. Though it was good that he was - as I looked around at all those going by, there were mostly humans, with some anthros thrown in, but I didn't see a single robot, so he would have really stood out.

"Ah... I see. Rash... I haven't heard of him. I am Chaos the hedgehog. And you guys might be?" I wanted to say that it was a silly name, but considering that mine was apparently Sorbet, I had no right to talk.

"I'm-" I started, but I heard the hawk do the same thing, and we both stopped.

Dain suddenly cut in. "Hedgehogs look silly!" I quickly covered his mouth and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry about that... he just tends to shout whatever comes to his mind. I'm Sorbet, and the rude one's Dain." I told her, and then the haw started his intro.

Glide nodded. "I'm Glide. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get going." He said, and ran off, still holding the Extreme Gear.

It made no sense. He was fine with talking with just me and Dain, but when this hedgehog appeared, he fled? Did he not want to be seen by too many people or something?

Chaos grinned. "That's quite alright. I've heard worse remarks. Nice to meet you." she said. The hedgehog then crossed her arms and asked, "So, why are you here?"

I was kinda confused. Why? I suppose I had never asked myself that. I just… was. "I... don't really know. I woke up in a house in the forest not too far from here without my memory. It was only once I arrived here that I even knew this was called a city."

Dain shook me off of him and smiled. "Exploring! Hawk! Hedgehog!" He summarized.

"That's Hedgehog Dain. Not edgehog." Chaos corrected him. Wait… he said it wrong? I couldn't possibly have missed it, could I? No… she had to have just heard it wrong

"I see. I can't remember my past either." She told me.

I smiled at her. "Well, I guess we're more a like than I thought, then, huh?" Dain tried to copy my smile, but it looked a little strange on him.

"Same! Hey! Do you know Sorbet?" I gave him a light push, but he was too heavy for it to effect him.

"It's not the time for that. Besides if she knew me, would she have said something before now?" I reasoned. Dain frowned at this.

"I gust..." "Guess." I quickly corrected. I wouldn't let another mistake get by me.

"Sure!"

Chaos shook her head, and I wondered if it was a show of annoyance at our behavior before she finally spoke. "Nope... ever heard of a man called Ivo Robotnik?" she asked.

Dain instantly began to dig through his data, coming up with a lot of things, but none of them really important in the end. Eventually, he came to data logs of a cloning project on Shadow the Hedgehog.

They were disturbing. Apparently, the person who had created Dain had taken living hedgehogs, and mutated them into copies of Shadow. All the while making observations on them like some kind of cooking experiment. 'Day 3: I tried to bake that kind of cake again. It turned out a little lumpy, but I'll just throw it away and try again!'

If this kind of person was responsible for Dain, did that mean my past was tied to him as well? Suddenly, I began to think that I never wanted to remember.

Chaos frowned, "No... that didn't help. But... Shadow... I've heard of him..." This was it! A clue! Even if I didn't want to remember, I would have to face it one day or another.

"You know this 'Shadow'? Can you take me to them? They might know something about who I am, since they're mentioned in Dain's memory." I asked. Even if I was related to this mad scientist, it would be better to know so that I could avoid them than to find out too late.

The black hedgehog shook her head. "Can't. He disappeared a long time ago from Robotnik's place. Besides, I have no idea where Shadow the Hedgehog is now."

I sighed. Great. Just great.

"Sorbet! Chaos! Make Shadow find us!" Dain suggested. That actually was a really good idea. After all, why look hopelessly when we could draw him to us?

Chaos looked confused, "Well how do we do that? I've got no idea how I bring another hedgehog here."

Okay, even I knew what you would do to lure someone. "You knew Shadow, right? Is there something he likes, or something he'd want?" All you had to do from there was simple - make it known that you had gotten a hold of said thing, though it helped if you actually obtained it first.

Chaos sighed, "I only knew him because he was at the same place that I was at... I don't know what he likes or anything. But if he left a long time ago, chances are that he's looking for a girlfriend or something." she shrugged as she began pacing.

Crap… well, kidnapping was out of the question. "Plan number 2!" Dain shouted. "Do you know if he has a Chaos Emerald? Due to the Logs, he can use a 'Chaos Emerald'. So he should have at least one. Something's telling me if both us and him have a Chaos Emerald, we can use it to track him!"

My first thought was that it seemed that it was an awful specific hunch, but so long as it worked, it was fine by me.

Chaos shook her head. "I don't have one… but my counterpart does and I'm sure it'd be easy to track her down and get it."

I didn't recognize that word. "Counterpart?"

"We don't need another, do we? Isn't one enough?" Dain asked, but I ignored him for the moment.

"Yes. I'm a clone so therefore I need a counterpart. Her name is Flare and she is a white hedgehog. She has a chaos emerald." Chaos explained. I still didn't quite get it, though, and so I asked again.

"So you're a clone... of Flare. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't clones supposed to be the same?" I asked, before turning to Dain. "And just what do you mean, another Chaos Emerald?"

My idiotic partner smiled. "I'm not sure what a Chaos Emerald is, but my data says that one is contained in my chest! So we already have a Chaos Emerald!"

Shouldn't you say something like that earlier?!

Chaos sighed, "That's the stereotype guess of clone. I can change my appearance so I chose this one that way I would not be confused with anyone else." She grinned, "Nice. Shall I look for my counterpart and see if she will give me her chaos emerald?"

"No need! No need! I'll just take it while she's not looking!" Dain said proudly. "Like Sorbet's favorite ball! ...woops!"

That robot would have been so dead if he had actual skin for me to tear into. Instead I settled for growling at him in a menacing way. Or at least, what I hoped was menacing.

Chaos raised an eyebrow, "Um... Dain, you're going to have a horrible time with that. She's the adopted daughter of Knuckles the Echidna and she is very protective over her belongings... trust me, I know." Statements like that wouldn't stop Dain. I knew that already. Especially since neither of us had any idea who this 'Knuckles' person was.\

"Dain's sneaky! And better than any Ecknada! I'll just use my Chaos Emerald to warp it away!" I had to admit, it sounded like a good idea... though just asking would be preferred. I also wasn't sure if these emeralds could be used for warping, but since Dain was sure, it probably was.

"Um, we could ask first..." I suggested, and he nodded. So long as he could hear my, Dain wouldn't refuse a suggestion or command. Of course, he was often out of earshot due to his tendency to run ahead.

Chaos shook her head, "She has amnesia, and before she met anyone outside of Angel Island, well... she doesn't trust people. It's safer and easier if we take it from her. And it's pronounced Echinda... not Ecknada."

Dain's face was similar to a little kid who had just learned something new. "Wow! I didn't know Amnesia was so common! You, Sorbet, other you, Me... There sure are a lot of us!"

"It is kinda strange that I've only met other people with amnesia... unless that Hawk didn't." I put in, and turned to Dain… who was already ten yards ahead. I don't get how he moves that fast.

The robot was waving his arms at me, trying to get me to follow. "Hurry up! I don't know where to go!" He shouted.

Idiot.


	2. Melty

The second chapter is finally up. I apologize if it's a bit short. It's based off of an RP I'm in, and the events only go up to here before the main character of this fic is knocked out.

The RP is Dragon Claw's Sonic the Hedgehog Roleplay, one of the first couple on the list of Sonic forums. If you want to join, you can't really miss it.

The next chapter will be longer, I assure you.

"Extreme Gear!"

All of a sudden, I wish I didn't know Dain.

He had tackled a female hedgehog with an Extreme Gear strapped to her back, trying to hug the board - of course, he paid no attention to the fact that it had shoved her face into the sidewalk.

"I'm so sorry. You see, this was the second time he's seen one of those boards, so he must've gotten overexcited." I told her.

"Uh... can I get up now?" The hedgehog asked, though it was kind of hard to hear her with her face planted in the cement.

I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, and I turned to see Chaos, looking scared. "That's my counterpart," she whispered. I had to hand it to Dain - while stupid, he was very accurate.

I tried to pull Dain off her, as he really didn't seem like he wanted to move. Thankfully, he got the hint and moved off of her when I failed at removing him myself.

"Thanks a lot." The hedgehog told me, before giving Dain the Extreme Gear. He glanced at it once, then handed it off to me. Ingrate. It was a pretty nice board, but it didn't look like it did anything special. What was the point of lugging it around everywhere?

"Chaos! What were we supposed to ask again?" He said, and I thought back. Something… we were going to her 'counterpart' for… ah, the Chaos Emerald.

"CHAOS?!" That… didn't sound good.

"Don't let her hurt me!" Our friend shouted, hiding behind Dain. Good choice - I doubt there's anyone who could beat him. He can lift a tree! Believe me, I've tried. It's not possible.

"I'll get you faster than you can run!" This threat seemed worthless to Dain who actually scowled, and shoved her back with one hand. In the weeks I've known Dain, even when he wasn't happy, he never frowned. And this was a full-blown scowl.

"You… are not a nice person! I don't like you at all!" I suddenly wondered if this was the same robot I had just had to pull off of the girl. How could he have undergone such a dramatic change?

Chaos looked up at Dain with relief in her eyes. "Thank you, Dain." That look… there was something trustworthy about it.

"She attacked me before!" The white hedgehog shouted, obviously trying to get us to turn on Chaos. Unfortunately, I had no proof that she wasn't lying, so I couldn't really decide on who to actually side with. If that hedgehog was the evil one, her plan was working.

"I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding! Chaos was really nice to us!" I said, protecting the one of the two that I knew, despite how short a time that had been.

"See these burn marks? She tried to blow me up." That didn't sound like her at all. The hedgehog I knew was nothing but nice to us, so why would she be so mean to someone else, especially her own 'counterpart'?

"I don't know why. She's attacked me before, and stolen both my extreme gear and Chaos Emerald." I don't get it. Not even a bad guy would lie this badly, right?

"That doesn't sound like her at all! When Dain suggested we take your Chaos Emerald, she was completely against it!"

The white hedgehog sounded defensive. "I swear I'm telling the truth! I don't lie."

"But you could be lying." Chaos interjected.

The other hedgehog looked almost smug. "Well then. How about you say what really happened?" Chaos went quiet, and the white hedgehog got into what looked like a battle position.

A traveling machine randomly exploded, catching my attention, but neither of the two hedgehogs moved. Had they caused it? No… there was a figure emerging from the fire.

Initiating battle sequence. Requesting power..." Dain stated mechanically. "Processing... ... ... Data transfer accepted. Activating Adaptation program. Extra energy required... Source: Chaos Emerald."

Dain's eyes turned green. "Primary objectives: Protect Unit 'Sorbet'. Maintain exterior covering. Destroy Unit 'Flare'." What? Dain had suddenly changed again - going from what could be angry to revealing his robotic nature. And was he going to fight?

He dashed at the white hedgehog, who was apparently called Flare, and threw a heavy punch. She jumped back to dodge, but Chaos was right there, kicking her in the stomach. Two on one wasn't even a match.

"BURN!" Something shouted, and the entire area where they were fighting became covered in flames. The something that had destroyed the car was apparently trying to kill them.

What's going on?! Nothing's making sense anymore!

Dain and the two hedgehogs landed a few feet away, having been able to jump away in time. How had that happened? I didn't even see them move.

"Analyzing abilities... Problem found. Adaptation required. Requesting Heat Shields. Processing... ... ...Heat Shields deployed. Chaos Emerald retains 80 percent energy."

So Dain could modify himself, or something? That was a welcome surprise.

"Pyro Meteor!" The thing that had attacked them, a fire-controlling male cat, created two fairly large balls of fire in his hands. What was this? Like all things all of a sudden it didn't make sense.

Why did he want to hurt them? Just because he could, or was there another reason behind it?

Chaos shoved her counterpart out of the way of the two fireballs only managing to destroy one with a strange energy attack, while the second blew up on her, ad the hedgehog held her side from the pain.

"You okay?" Flare asked, confusing me. Didn't she just want to kill Chaos? Rethinking this, the only explanation was that she had been lying, and just had some sort of rivalry with her.

"Targets rectified. New objective, protect Chaos. Unit name: 'Flare' added to ally roster." Dain commented. So Flare was on our side now? That was good, I suppose.

Dain charged towards him, and the pyromaniac cat sent a long stream of firebreath his way. Of course, he was able to run right through it to get a hit in, but his disguise was burnt to a crisp. We just kept losing those.

"So that's why you didn't die..." The cat said, floating into the air. "But you're just one enemy." Turning to the hedgehogs, he smiled. "I'm sure you're not a robot." He directed the comment at Chaos, having already seen her get hit by his fire attacks.

"BURN!" tossing a larger meteor created with both hands at them, he gave a victorious smirk.

The two hedgehogs ran straight at him, the fireball sailing over their heads. The cat then spit several smaller ones at them, and began to send plumes of flame up from the ground - but they avoided both fairly easily. Chaos was singed a few times, but neither one got too badly hurt.

The white hedgehog got onto her extreme gear, flying through the air towards him. So that was what made them so special. Chaos started to throw her energy attacks, flying at the enemy - though some were destroyed by the occasional fireball.

"Stop moving!" He shouted, turning towards Flare. "Squirm!" He clenched his fist, and she almost immediately fell from her extreme gear, in a woozy-looking way like she was about to pass out.

Something told me that it looked like she was getting a fever, and this was emphasized by the look on her face that you got when you were way too hot, coupled by her dramatic reduction in speed. Somehow, the cat had started to make her body increase in temperature. It was the only reasonable explanation.

"Ahahaha! You're mine!" He shouted, giving an evil laugh, as he spawned another large ball of fire. "Pyro Meteor!"

"Dain!" I called, and he jumped into action, shielding the defenseless hedgehog from the attack.

Chaos disappeared, quietly setting up a few explosives behind the fire-user, as Flare began to shoot the strange energy attack at him. The cat, however, shielded himself from them by wrapping his cloak made of fire around himself. I'm still not sure why he's not getting as burned as we would if we touched it.

Probably some fire manipulator thing. The cat suddenly fell to the ground, apparently having been hit by Chaos, who was standing behind him.

"Rage Inferno!" He shouted, and the ground began to shoot large bursts of flame, and quickly the entire area began to get covered in a raging fire. I closed my eyes, preparing to be burned alive…

So naturally I was surprised when it never came. Instead, I felt Dain's robotic arm pick be up, and I opened my eyes to the sight of us sailing through the air. It was amazing… I felt almost like I was flying…

Dain set me down on a rooftop where everyone was gathered, but Chaos had been knocked unconscious by something. He then began to look for our enemy, jumping to a different roof to see where he had disappeared to.

It was then I felt an arm wrap around me. Looking back, I found myself staring into the face of our attacker who instantly put a hand over my mouth before I could scream for Dain. "Quiet, there. Wouldn't want to have to fry your friends to get you back home safely." He jumped backwards off the building, taking me with him. I struggled to get free, but he was too strong.

"Hey, I don't want to have to Burn you to prove a point." He said, dragging me away, while slightly removing his hand to allow me to talk back to him, but not enough to allow me to make enough noise to alert my friends.

I would have punched him if I could. "So, why are you kidnapping me?" I asked. However, I think I really could have done without this answer.

"Because my -and your - boss, Rash the Hawk, has sent me to retrieve the experiment 'Sorbet', at all costs. Thus, you must come with me." I began to struggle to break away.

"Sorry, but you're a bit too much trouble to take like this. Hope you'll forgive me once you've been restored." And I felt a blow to the back of my head, crumpling to the ground and falling into unconsciousness.


End file.
